The time taken to land on planet mars from earth is not constant but varies depending on the time the journey is taken and the position of the two planets in their orbits when the mission is started.

The journey is said to take around seven months.

However, the best way to determine how long the will trip take is first by determining the distance between the two planets.

What causes the variation in time?

The distance between these two planets depends on some factors such as the position of the planet in relation to the sun.

For instance, Mars and Earth are in their farthest distance from the sun when they are on the opposite side of the sun and in their farthest distance from the sun. At this time, the distance between the two planets is estimated to be 250 million miles away.

Therefore, if the journey is taken at this time, it will be much longer than when they close to the sun. For example, when the two are at their shortest distance from the sun, the distance is a little bit shorter (34.8 million miles) and the time taken to land on Mars at this time will be less compared to the later.

On average, Planet Earth and planet Mars are 140 million miles away. The total time taken to get to planet Mars at this time is estimated to be between 150 and 300 days.

However, this time varies with the speed of the spacecraft, alignment of planet Mars and Planet Earth.

Recorded Duration from Earth to Mars

A lot of scientists have visited planet Mars and taken different time to get there.

Mariner 4 that traveled to Mars on 1964 took 228 days; Mariner 6 of 1969 took 156 days from Earth to Mars. Mariner 7 took only 131 days. In 1971, Mariner 9, the fastest spacecraft, took a duration of 167 days to arrive on the same planet.

As aforementioned, the difference in time is because of the factors stated earlier. Again, the fact that the distance between the two planets is not straight is also a cause of variation in time taken to land on planet Mars.

Conclusion

A lot of spacecraft have traveled to planet Mars, but none has had a similar duration.

Each spacecraft record a different duration.

However, the variation depends on the factors mentioned.

Therefore, there is no precise answer to the question, how does long does it take to get to planet Mars?

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In the wake of the Paris attacks on November 13 2015, evidence has failed to conclude that a Syrian refugee named Ahmed Al Mohammed was among the Paris attackers.

Fake passport

A passport belonging to one Ahmed Al Mohamed, a 25 –year old man was found near a slain attacker at the French National soccer stadium.

French officials have termed the passport as fake claiming that Al Mohamed was a loyalist soldier allied to Syrian president Bashar Al- Assad and that he had died some few months earlier.

A terrorist had faked the passport in order to gain entry into several countries before the attacks.

Usage of a fake Syrian passport to engage in terrorism makes sense to someone who wanted to travel to various parts of Europe undetected.

Matching fingerprints

The attacker maintained usage of the same fake passport throughout his travels in Europe prior to the Paris attacks.

Fingerprints taken from the alleged holder of the passport- Al Mohamed, matched those of a man who had been arrested with the same passport in the Greece Island of Leros after crossing over from Turkey.

The man later entered Serbia with his fingerprints matching those taken in Greece. Fingerprints on the passport matched those of the bomber at Stade de France and also matched those taken in Greece and Serbia.

After a search on the French database, the fingerprints were not found leading the officials to believe that the bomber was indeed a group of immigrants and refugees although it was impossible to point out that the refugee had indeed been a Syrian.

All identified attackers are European citizens

All the attackers identified after the Paris attacks were all citizens of European Union countries.

As such, experts believe that the radicalization of all the attackers was homegrown in Europe.

This assertion eliminates the probability of there being a Syrian national among the attackers giving weight to the allegation that the unidentified stadium bomber was using a fake Syrian passport. Moreover, French authorities confirmed that the two other bombers at the stadium carried fake Turkish passports and this also adds weight the exoneration of any Syrian refugee being one of the Paris attackers.

The prevalence of fake passports in Europe is being used by terrorists to travel to target destinations undetected.

The emergence of the refugee crisis has worsened the situation.

The case of a fake passport allegedly belonging to a Syrian Ahmed Al Mohamed was meant to mislead authorities and help the terrorist to travel undetected and execute the Paris attacks.